Originally Posted by
rspears
Repoman, seems to me you have a good handle on #1 at TDC now, or close enough to true TDC for the valves on #1 to be closed, and your step-by-step process should give you some more idea about exactly which cylinders have problems, and whether it's valves hanging open or not. It doesn't sound like you're planning to pull the timing chain, so talk about degreeing the cam or setting up the engine is not really of much value for where you are in the process, IMO. Now it may be that whoever installed that hot cam didn't degree it right way back when, but for now you're assuming that the engine was set up right because it ran right at one time. From what I've read you spent some money on what you were told was a good engine from your boat dealer, you're finding that it may not have been quite as good as you were led to believe, and now you're trying to understand just how bad it is before you decide to pull it out and either start fresh, or maybe have that one rebuilt. I would be doing exactly the same thing before I made a decision on several thousand dollars!
If your Saturday is going to be dedicated to this mystery I hope you have your answers early, and can then move on with a decision that gets you back on the water enjoying the boat. Best of luck to you!